Prof. Teresa B. Fitzpatrick (Lab head) 
Teresa did her undergraduate and PhD studies at University College Dublin finishing in 1998, followed by a short fellowship at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories in Clare Hall, London (now part of Cancer Research UK). She then did a post-doc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ, 1998-2002), after which she became a group leader there, pursuing projects on vitamin metabolism. In 2008, she was awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation professorship. In 2009, she moved to the University of Geneva as Associate Professor and was awarded a Full Professorship in 2015. She was Director of the Plant Biology Department from 2012-2017.
Simon Strobbe (Post-doctoral fellow) 
Simon obtained his PhD in 2019 based on research conducted in the laboratory of Functional Plant Biology (Ghent University), under the supervision of Dominique Van Der Straeten. His PhD thesis is entitled: “Vitamin metabolism in plants: from B-vitamin biology towards crop biofortification”. This work included assessment of the potential of biofortification in the eradication of vitamin deficiencies, as well as the application of metabolic engineering to augment folate (vitamin B9) content in potato tubers and thiamin (vitamin B1) levels in rice seeds. He has a specific interest in crop improvement to address our current and future agronomical challenges, including both crop nutritional properties as well as stress resilience and sustainability. He joined the Fitzpatrick lab in October 2023, where he will investigate the role of B-vitamins in plant symbioses.
Dr. Mengping Li (Post-doctoral fellow) 
+41 22 379 30 12
Mengping obtained her PhD degree at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2021. Her studies revealed key players implicated in the crosstalk of photosynthetic reactive oxygen species and salicylic acid signaling under stress conditions in Arabidopsis at Chanhong Kim's lab in Shanghai. Mengping joined the Fitzpatrick lab in late February 2023 to investigate aspects of vitamin B1 metabolism in plants.
Dr. Kai Wang (Post-doctoral fellow)
+41 22 379 31 08
Kai obtained his PhD degree at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Ning Li's lab (2014-2019). The main aim during his PhD training was figuring out signaling components that are involved in mechanical stimuli-related process/thigmomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. In particular, how specific phosphorylation processes that can be fast regulated by mechanical stimuli are transferred to the whole of the plant. After completing his PhD in 2019, he stayed in the same lab as a Research Associate. In 2020, he joined the Fitzpatrick lab as a post-doctoral fellow to investigate aspects of vitamin B1 metabolism in plants.
Dr. Maria Faustino (Post-doctoral fellow)
+41 22 379 31 08
Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Aveiro University in Portugal, where she began her research on Plant Phytochemistry, followed by a Master’s in Biochemistry focused on halophytic grasses. During her PhD, conducted jointly at ITQB NOVA in Oeiras, Portugal (part of the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, with Margarida Oliveira) and Ghent University in Belgium (with Dominique Van Der Straeten), she focused on biofortifying rice with vitamins B1 (thiamin) and B2 (riboflavin), gaining expertise in systems biology, pathway modeling, and vitamin analysis. In September 2024, Maria joined the Fitzpatrick lab to explore the role of B-vitamins in plant symbioses.
Dr. Benoît Maillot (Scientific adjoint) 
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Benoît studied at the University of Strasbourg (2001-2006) obtaining a Masters degree in Structural Biology, Genomics and Bioinformatics. He studied HIV-1 integrase in complex with two cellular partners for his PhD (2006-2010). He then became a researcher at the European Radiation Synchrotron Facility in Grenoble (2011-2014) and worked as a consultant for biotech company Global BioEnergies in Strasbourg (2015-2018). He joined the lab of Prof. Jean-Claude Martinou at the University of Geneva in Switzerland in 2019 working on the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier and joined the Fitzpatrick lab in July 2021.
Leslie Acevedo (Doctoral fellow) 
Leslie got her Bachelor’s degree in biology in Mexico. She did a Bachelor thesis in the laboratory of Joseph Dubrovsky at the Institute of Biotechnology in the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), about the involvement of threonine catabolism in the maintenance of the root apical meristem. She obtained her Master’s degree at the same Institute in the laboratory of Patricia Leon. There she worked on how an apocarotenoid signal produced in the plastid regulates the transcription of plastid ribosomal genes encoded in the nucleus functioning as a retrograde signal, affecting plastid protein translation, chloroplast biogenesis and laminar leaf development. Leslie joined the Fitzpatrick lab as a PhD student in September 2023 and is investigating aspects of regulation of vitamin B6 metabolism in plants.
Marina Roura (Doctoral fellow) 
Marina studied Biotechnology at the University of Barcelona (2017 – 2021). During this time she joined the lab of Ricard Albalat, where she investigated metallothioneins from Oikopleura dioica (a tunicate), and the heavy metal tolerance capacity that they confer to this organism (2020 – 2021). She was an Erasmus student for two-months at Cardiff University during 2021 joining the lab of Hilary Rogers to study aspects of ripening and post-harvest processes of strawberries. Afterwards, she did a Master’s in Molecular and Cellular Plant Biotechnology at the Polytechnique University of Valencia, and joined the lab of Cristina Ferrandiz at the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP). There she investigated the function of the NGATHA gene family in rice gynoecium development (2022 – 2023). She joined the Fitzpatrick lab as a PhD student in October 2023 and is investigating aspects of vitamin B1 metabolism in plants.
Péter Farkas (Doctoral fellow) 
Peter obtained his B.Sc. in Biology at Eötvös Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. During his studies, he was an intern at the Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology as well as at the Centre for Ecological Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2015-2016), where he monitored microclimate responses to experimental silvicultural treatments in a temperate oak-dominated forest. Later, he joined the group of Laszlo Tamas at the Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Plant Biology, Eötvös Lorand University (2016-2017), where he studied wheat storage proteins, which define characteristics of wheat flour related to kneading. He joined the Fitzpatrick lab in September 2017 to pursue his Masters degree in Molecular Plant Biology and finished in March 2019. He is now pursuing his doctoral studies in the Fitzpatrick lab on vitamin B6 homeostasis.
Mireille de Meyer (Technician) 
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Mireille obtained a diploma in medical sciences from the Laboratory Technicians College in Geneva (1992). After this, she was employed for 5 years as a technician in an endocrinology research laboratory at University Hospital Geneva, working on thyroid hormones. She moved to the University of Geneva working with Claude Penel, on peroxidase expression in Arabidopsis thaliana (1999-2009). Since then, she works as a technician predominantly focusing on plant molecular techniques in the Fitzpatrick lab.
Ivan Dalvit (Lab assistant) 
Ivan did his Bachelor in Biology at the University of Geneva (2012), followed by a Master in Molecular Plant Science (MPS) focused on vitamin B1 plant transporters in the Fitzpatrick lab (2015). He then joined the lab in 2016 as a lab assistant.
Former Lab members & current location
Dr. Zeguang Liu, China.
Ms. Maria Lackmann, University of Bonn, Germany.
Ms. Céline Roux, Annemasse, France.
Ms. Lara Land, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Marco Mellon, Padua, Italy.
Dr. Priscille Steensma, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Dr. Zeenat Noordally, Norfolk County Council, England.
Dr. Marta Pesquera, Amphasys, Luzern, Switzerland.
Dr. Lottie Chapman, Food Security, England.
Mr. Celso Trichtinger, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Manuel Hofmann, CSL Behring, Bern, Switzerland.
Dr. Vera Gorelova, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Dr. Jared Fudge, Jared Fudge Scientific Ltd, London, England.
Dr. Michael Moulin, CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dr. Elisa Dell'Aglio, Università degli Studi de Milano, Italy.
Dr. Graham Robinson, GIRACT, Geneva, Switzerland.
Ms. Denise Touré, Ivory Coast.
Dr. Maite Colinas, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
Dr. Jacopo Martinis, ExcellGene SA, Monthey, Switzerland.
Dr. Svetlana Boycheva, University of Konstanz, Switzerland.
Dr. Markus Kaufmann, Givaudan AG, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Dr. Nicolas Szydlowski, Université de Lille, France.
Dr. Elisabet Gas, The University of Georgia Athens, U.S.A.
Dr. Cyril Moccand, Nestlé AG Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dr. Lucille Pourcel, SwissProt, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Maja Raschke, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Olca Titiz, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Lukas Bürkle, Stratec Biochemical, Birkenfeld, Germany.
Dr. Thomas Raschle, SGS, Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Marina Tambasco Studart, Redbiotec AG, Zurich, Switzerland.
Mrs. Nadine Müller, Zurich Switzerland.
Ms. Alexandra Gisler, Federal Office for Agriculture, Bern, Switzerland.
Mr. Sandro Steiner, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Mr. Francesc Puig, Spain.
Mr. Pedro Surriabre, University of Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Ms. Holly Victoria Shaw, Actelion Basel, Switzerland.
Ms. Xiaohua (Emma) Yang, France.